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Sep 12, 2012

A glut of Grackles

Photo by BarrytheBirder

For a brief five minutes during the Monday dinnertime, a flock of approximately 150 Grackles swooped into the backyard and took over three small mixed-seeds feeders, that had been previously occupied by Mourning Doves, White-breasted and Red-breasted Nuthatches, Black-capped Chickadees and Blue Jays. It was bedlam and the feeders were quickly being emptied, when, at a mysterious signal, there was a instantaneous flapping of 300 wings and the marauders were gone as quickly as they had arrived. The photo above does not to the occasion justice, as it captured only about 50 of the 150 birds. The other 100 birds were in the cedar hedge in the background, and along the window sills and eavestroughs of the house...shades of Alfred Hitchcock. As a footnote, Grackles were long ago called 'Crow Blackbirds' in North America. And as a second footnote, my 30 or so America Goldfinches were so traumatized by the Grackle onslaught, that I have not seen them for the past 24 hours.

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About Me

Born the night Japan attacked Pearl Harbour / became a man the day I harnessed a team of horses for my grandfather / hitch-hiked across Canada and back / married my high school sweetheart / spent 41 years in newspaper publishing / birdwatcher for the past 26 years / take a canoe over a car any day / proud father and grandfather / lifelong hedonist